Vladimir Uglev, a chemist involved in Soviet development of the Novichok family of nerve agents, died on October 26, 2026, aged 80. He had spent his final years living in Anapa.
Uglev was born on September 20, 1946. He graduated from the Mendeleev Institute of Chemical Technology in Moscow in 1975 and worked as a senior researcher at the Volsk branch of the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology (GosNIIOKhT) from 1975 to 1990, where chemical weapons were developed.
Uglev began speaking publicly about this class of agents after Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned in Salisbury, England, in 2018. In 2020, he discussed Novichok’s use in the poisoning of Alexei Navalny and advised reporters investigating the development and use of the compounds.